Chicago Bears rookie wideout Marquess Wilson trying to fit in

BOURBONNAIS — Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett all excel at going up high and pulling in jump balls, giving Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler an added advantage that he hasn’t enjoyed throughout much of his career.

BOURBONNAIS — Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett all excel at going up high and pulling in jump balls, giving Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler an added advantage that he hasn’t enjoyed throughout much of his career.

Receivers Marshall is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and Jeffery is 6-3, 216, and Bennett, the biggest of them all, is a 6-6, 265 tight end. Another lengthy wideout is trying to work his way into the mix as well, and after a strong showing in his debut on Friday night, Marquess Wilson has a shot at being a part of this new high-leaping offense.

“It feels good, but in the back of your mind you know nobody’s safe. You just have to go out there and perform every day, “ said Wilson, a 6-4, 184-pound rookie drafted in the seventh round. “I haven’t done anything yet. It’s just football, and you just build off of everything you did in the last practice or the last game and try and get better at it.”

Well Wilson has a lot to build off of this week then. He turned a short pass from Matt Blanchard into a 58-yard reception down to the 4-yard-line, which turned into the lone Bears touchdown by the offense during a rather uneventful 24-17 preseason-opening loss Friday night.

He finished with a game-high four catches for 82 yards, chalking up a 20.5 yard-per-catch average in his first tryout in uniform. Wilson got more opportunities than usual because Earl Bennett is out with a concussion and Marshall didn’t suit up to give his surgically-repaired hip an extra day off.

But with Earl Bennett’s health in question — he missed two games last December due to a concussion as well — and another wide receiver spot likely up for grabs anyway, Wilson sees a window opening. And after leaving Washington State under scrutiny — he was disciplined for breaking team rules, then burned bridges on his way out the door, one year earlier than planned — he feels he needs to grab it while he can.

“Definitely, but I think not just me, everybody has to prove themselves coming out of college. I mean, you’re a rookie, and you’re not known. You’ve got to build your rep up again,” Wilson said. “I moved on from it, and I’m just waiting for the next opportunity to play football.

“Everybody’s had open arms here, and I definitely feel like a part of this team.”

To keep it that way, Wilson will have to continue to outshine a lot of other receivers on the training-camp roster. Devin Aromashodu, a former Bear and Viking who is in the mix, is 6-2, 201, and has also shown (at times) that he can outjump defenders for the ball. Undrafted free agent Joe Anderson has had a good camp as well.

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There may only be room for one of them on the final 53-man roster. And, there’s little doubt Wilson is in it to win.

In fact, all of them sound that way.

“Oh yeah, we’re definitely in a battle. You always want to be in a battle, though, because that’s what makes you better,” Aromashodu said. “It’s all fun, but that’s why I play, I enjoy the competition. I look forward to it.”

So far, so, too, is Wilson. And, he’s excelling at it. Plenty of so-called draft experts said that if Wilson had finished his college career with similar numbers in his senior season that he put up before, he would have been taken on Day 1 of the draft.

He slipped, the Bears went after him, and now he’s got a shot at helping this offense rebuild. He likes where’s he at so far, even if he’s not the best jump-ball receiver on the field anymore.

“To be honest with you, I used to say jump balls were my thing, but it’s different now, because you’re in the league now, and everybody can jump,” Wilson said. “That was my thing in college, so now we’ll see. You just have to work at something, find one thing that you’re good at and stick with it.